A new 30-page report that documents the growing influence of agribusiness on the multilateral food system and the lack of transparency in research funding has been released today by the international civil society organization ETC Group. The Greed Revolution: Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle In On Public Goods presents three case studies – one involving the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and two involving CGIAR Centers (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) – which point to a dangerous trend that will worsen rather than solve the problem of global hunger. The report details the involvement of, among others, Nestlé, Heineken, Monsanto, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Syngenta Foundation. Continue reading →

Court demands Health Canada re-examine pesticide

The Canadian Press

A court has ordered Health Canada to reconsider its decision not to review the effects of a popular herbicide, a ruling that some say will strengthen the public’s hand in forcing the government to answer environmental concerns.

“We put a crack in the door,” said Josette Wier, who took the government to court after a forestry company began spraying Roundup from airplanes near her Smithers, B.C., home. “That door was locked — it was impossible.” Continue reading →

According to a just released report with input from 20 citizens’ organizations, GMOs are bad news – as reported in the London Guardian: “Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds”, according to a report by 20 Indian, south-east Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people.” You can read the Guardian article and download the report at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/19/gm-crops-insecurity-superweeds-pesticides?newsfeed=true

April: This is what will happen here with GE Alfalfa deregulation. Next, a whole list of GE crops and vegetables will be approved and deregulated. And we will have NO say in it. We either have to stand up now, all of us, or lie down and take it, and hope the experiment doesn’t fail. We can’t get our original seed and plants back, once it’s out there.

Steve Marsh is the owner of a certified organic farm in Western Australia. In late December, he received notice from Western Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Food (DFAWA) that 293 hectares – later found to be 325 hectares – of his organic farm had been contaminated by Roundup Ready canola. The GM canola arrived on his property from a neighboring farm.

Organic Certification Revoked

Australia’s leading organic certifier, the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA), suspended certification on the 70% of Mr. Marsh’s farm containing the GM canola.

Ottawa, Monday, December 6, 2010 – Sixty fisheries and oceans
conservation, environmental and social justice groups revealed today
that Environment Canada refuses to confirm or deny if the department
has already started a secret 120-day risk assessment to approve
genetically engineered (GE) salmon egg production on Prince Edward
Island. The groups today also released a joint statement of
“categorical objection” to the raising of GE fish and fish eggs (1).

Documents released in September by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that the US company AquaBounty is seeking approval to sell its GE salmon into the US food market based on a plan to produce all its GE salmon eggs on Prince Edward Island (PEI) and then ship the eggs to Panama for grow out and processing. Following this revelation, groups made inquiries to Environment Canada but were told that any information about a possible risk assessment is confidential. The groups are calling for full disclosure and demanding that Environment Canada cease any approval process that may already be underway.